What the heck I was making here! A Greek favourite met a Vietnamese sweet heart.

This is my second time making Swordfish Souvlaki, but I never post my first souvlaki. I first got interested to Swordfish Souvlaki (Ξιφίας σουβλάκι) when I saw a Canadian blogger’s post, Peter of Kafolagas whom is a Greek descendant. At that time, I added pineapple chunks which are not very Greek. That was just my creation since I saw fresh pineapple chunks leftover in the fridge.

Souvlaki (Greek: Σουβλάκι) or souvlakia is similar to Sate or Satay. It’s a popular Greek fast food consisting of small pieces of meat and sometimes vegetables grilled on a skewer.

Then, one day when my brain didn’t work to think what to cook, I opened up my freezer and fridge. I found swordfish steak, lettuce, red pepper avocado and homemade nuoc mam cham. Well, I decided to make swordfish souvlaki without skewers. I was lazy enough to soak my bamboo skewers as well as thread the meat and veggies to skewers. After the marinating process, look… what I did! I broiled the veggies and fish instead.

Nuoc mam cham is a mixture fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, water and chili. I always have it in the fridge. Trust me! This Vietnamese dipping sauce is very handy for salad as well. If Indonesians love sambal terasi, this one is the Vietnamese favourite.Swordfish Salad with Nuoc Mam Cham Mustardadapted from Swordfish Souvlaki (Ξιφίας σουβλάκι) by Peter Minaki, modified by me

Directions:
Rinse and pat-dry swordfish cubes. In a bowl, add all of your marinade ingredients, adjust seasoning to taste. Add swordfish cubes, red pepper and avocado chunks into the marinade, cover and place in the fridge for one hour. Remove from the fridge and allow to return to room temperature.

Set the broil to high. Place veggies (red pepper and avocado) in a pan and broil until done (about 3-5 minutes, depend how hot your broil is). When your veggies are a half-done, place swordfish cubes on a separate pan and put in a oven to broil. Cook about 1 minute and flip another side, then broil for another 1 minute. Remember the period of broiling will be varied.

You can mix the nuoc mam cham with mustard for dressing. Please click the word Nuoc Mam Cham to get the recipe.

In a salad bowl, tear off the lettuce. Place broiled swordfish and veggies on top. Drizzle the nuoc mam cham and mustard dressing over.

Welcome to Indonesia Eats

Indonesia Eats is written and photographed by Pepy Nasution; an Indonesian-born Winnipeg (Canada)-based food photographer.

A collection of Indonesian and Asian recipes with style, eye-catching photographs and personal stories about cooking Indonesian and being Indonesian away from home. Indonesia Eats is a memoir of her homeland.